Package Manager

1. A system comprising: a package manager configured to receive from an encode/decode library a message to be encoded or decoded; a package resolver element of the package manager configured to receive the message and structures from the encode/decode library, and to invoke helper functions; and a package helper element of the package manager, configured to provide the helper functions to the package resolver element, the helper functions performing at least one of encoding operations and decoding operations on the message.

2. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising an interface of the package resolver configured to receive one of an encode and a decode function from the encode/decode library, the function having an argument formed at least in part from the message.

3. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the package resolver is configured to retrieve a package name from the encode and decode function, and to obtain a function pointer corresponding to the retrieved package name, the function pointer indicating one of the helper functions.

4. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the package resolver is configured to obtain a function pointer from the encode and decode function, and to invoke one of the helper functions of the package helper indicated by the function pointer.

5. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a package list of the package resolver, the package list containing package names of packages registered with the package manager.

6. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a computer memory of the package helper containing the helper functions performing encoding and decoding of the message.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the helper functions include helper functions optimized for binary and for textual messages.

8. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the helper functions are categorized in sets, each set being associated with a specific package.

9. The system according to claim 8 , wherein the helper functions comprise helper functions optimized for different package elements.

10. The system according to claim 8 , wherein the helper functions comprise functions optimized for messages containing a descriptor for one of an event, a signal, a statistic, a property and an observed event.

11. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the encode and decode functions comprise functions optimized for messages containing a descriptor for one of an event, a signal, a statistic, a property and an observed event.

12. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the message is one of a structure and a text/binary string.

13. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the package resolver uses the helper function to decode the text/binary string into an output structure, and to encode the structure into an output text/binary string.

14. A method for encoding and decoding a package descriptor of a package in a media gateway component, comprising: receiving in a package manager one of an encode and decode function from an encode/decode library, the function having an argument formed at least in part from the package descriptor; obtaining a pointer for an helper function associated with the argument, the helper function being adapted to perform one of an encoding and a decoding operation; and invoking the helper function to perform one of the encode and the decode operation on the argument.

15. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising parsing the argument in the package manager to determine a package name associated with the package descriptor.

16. The method according to claim 15 , further comprising determining if the package descriptor is associated with an additional package name.

17. The method according to claim 15 , further comprising searching a package list of the package manager to obtain the pointer for the helper function associated with the package descriptor.

18. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising interfacing with the encode/decode library via a package resolver portion of the package manager, the package resolver portion being configured to invoke the helper function.

19. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising storing the helper function in a package helper portion of the package manager.

20. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising invoking the helper function with a parameter requesting one of encoding and decoding operations on the argument.

21. The method according to claim 20 , further comprising generating, in a decoding operation, a structure derived from the argument.

22. The method according to claim 20 , further comprising generating, in an encoding operation, a text/binary string message derived from the argument.

23. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising registering the package with the package manager, and providing the package resolver with a package list correlating package descriptor names with helper function pointers.

24. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising storing the package descriptor in a memory buffer, and relating the argument to the memory buffer.

25. A media gateway component, comprising: an encode/decode library to process text/binary strings and structures containing package descriptors; a package manager to decode the text/binary strings into output structures, and to encode the structures into output text/binary strings; a package resolver portion of the package manager adapted to receive the text/binary strings and the structures from the encode/decode library, and to invoke helper functions to carry out encoding and decoding operations; and a package helper portion of the package manager, adapted to store the helper functions.

26. The media gateway according to claim 25 , wherein the package resolver portion is adapted to parse the text/binary strings and the structures to resolve a name of the package descriptors.

27. The media gateway according to claim 25 , wherein the package resolver portion is adapted to derive a pointer to invoke the helper function appropriate to a corresponding one of the package descriptors.

28. A system for routing a message between a telephone network and a data network, comprising: a media gateway connecting the telephone network and the data network; a media gateway controller adapted to issue instructions to the media gateway; a package manager of the media gateway configured to receive from an encode/decode library a message to be encoded or decoded according to the instructions; a package resolver element of the package manager configured to receive the message and structures from the encode/decode library, and to invoke helper functions; a package helper element of the package manager, configured to provide the helper functions to the package resolver element, the helper functions performing at least one of encoding operations and decoding operations on the message; an interface of the package resolver configured to receive one of an encode and a decode function from the encode/decode library, the function having an argument formed at least in part from the message; and a function pointer obtained from the function, the function pointer indicating a specific one of the helper functions to be provided to the package resolver.